How Self Storage Can Help You Downsize

If you’ve been paying attention lately, you may have noticed the recent movement happening in the micro home space. People are opting out of overly large houses for apartments and condos. Downsizing homes can happen throughout your life. Perhaps it’s time to say goodbye to your roommates and begin the next chapter of living on your own. Maybe, you want to be closer to work and relocate closer to downtown. Or, you’re entering your golden years (retirement).

In some cases, downsizing to a smaller space and opting to rent a self storage unit for your additional items could even save you money on your monthly rental expense. For whatever the reasons may be, downsizing to a smaller unit doesn’t have to be a tedious task. With the growing popularity of self storage units, you can easily downsize without having to say goodbye to all your treasured belongings.

Here we’ll give you our top advice for how storage units can help ease your transition during this next chapter.

Determining The Size of Your New Space

First and foremost, the most important thing to do is to measure your new space in comparison to your current space. What items will easily fit in your new space and what items may be too large. Create an inventory of your belongings. The things you definitely want in your new space and a ‘maybe’ pile. By going through all your belongings and listing out what you want, you’ll be able to determine how much space is remaining. By doing this first, you’ll not only understand what items can fit in your new place, but also what size storage unit you may need.

Organize in Advance

Organization is key when it comes to any type of move. Downsizing isn’t any different. By organizing your belongings in the following groupings, you’ll be able to tackle your move with more ease.

1. Keep
2. Donate / Recycle
3. Storage
4. Garbage

By understanding where each of your belongings go, you’ll be able to determine how much self storage space is needed. Perhaps your seasonal decorations used to go in the garage, well now you can relocate them to your self storage unit. By planning how many of your belongings will need to go in a self storage unit, you’ll be able to efficiently understand how your new space can be best utilized. You may even realize you now have room to start the hobbies you’ve always wanted to start but didn’t have the room to do them in.

Move Into Your Self Storage Unit First

Before moving into your new space, make sure to time it up so you can have access to a self storage unit first. Keep and set aside the main items you have marked as going to your new place. The rest of the items you are unsure about you can store in your self storage unit. If you hire a full-service moving company, they will transport your items to the storage facility for you. And of course, separately move the selected items into your new space as well. Although utilizing a self storage facility does introduce an additional step, it’ll help tenfold when you're standing in the middle of your new place visualizing how you want the room to look.

List What Items Should Stay

We all know the bigger the house, the more things you have to fill it and the more you accumulate over time. However, when it comes to downsizing, less is more! How do you determine what items should stay and what should go? Always keep stock of your favourite items and understand how they can fit in your new space. Start with the floors and work your way up. Do you have a rug that you absolutely love? Can it easily fit in the new space? If not, store it, sell it or give it away. If you sell it, you can use the money to buy a new rug that is better suited for your new space. Perhaps you have one too many ottomans, determine which ones fit well with your new space and store the others.

Interior designer tip: Rotate your furniture to keep things fresh in your new home.

Permanent Home Extension with Self Storage

Think of self storage units as an extension of your home. You can choose to have one close to home, work or where your hobbies are located. Seasonal decorations are a great example of things you can leave in your storage unit to declutter your space. Other things like seasonal gear that you only use in summer or winter but have nowhere to store in the off-season are also great items to leave in the storage unit. By utilizing your self storage unit as an extension to your home, you’ll be surprised at how much clutter you remove from your living space and actually how little space you really do need.

Self Storage Keepsakes

It’s easy to accumulate things over the years that become sentimental. However, when you downsize, you’ll need to find a place for all these items. You may have a lot of family heirlooms, but you don’t have the space in your home for them. Having a self storage unit is the perfect place to store these precious family items until your family is ready to take them off your hands. By having a self storage unit, you won’t have to worry about where all these items will go while you’re deciding where you want to move next.

Final Thoughts

Downsizing to a smaller space can be an exciting time. You’re purging the excess belongings you have, so you can refocus on the items you really can’t live without. Knowing what you can and cannot live without is paramount to any downsizing project. Nowadays with the growing popularity of self storage units you no longer have the two options to keep or throw out. Self storage units give you the flexibility to store your items for future use. Self storage units are there for you in all your in-between moments in life. With all the storage options out there now, you can rest easy knowing you don’t have to let go of everything you own just because you’ve moved into a smaller space.